Skilled Strokes

With the formal inauguration of the Painters Training Academy, PROCEED, Nippon Paint aims to train 100 painters by 2017.

Eco-friendly paint manufacturer Nippon Paint (India) recently launched the Nippon Paint Painters Training Academy. The academy is set up with the purpose to offer training in the areas of how paint is manufactured, customer engagement and the importance of safety, health and environment among the painter community. That said, the company has already trained painters in four batches at its plant in Sriperambudur near Chennai.

Although not directly a part of it, but Nippon Paint seeks to align with the vision of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in providing skill development for painters in association with National Skill Development Centre.

The training programme at present takes place over the course of 10 days where the painter is educated on latest mechanisation to safety aspects to health parameters. The size of the batch is restricted to 10 so that personal attention and importance is given to each of them. In addition, efforts are also put in to better their existing skills. This training initiative, called PROCEED, involves developing the painter into a PRO (Professional), the intent being to create more skilled and customer-friendly professionals. CEED (Career, Education, Excellence and Development), on the other hand, is all about educating the painters with regard to their career such as paint basics, paint manufacturing, customer etiquettes and so on.

Speaking on the initiative, Mahesh Anand, President-Decoratives, Nippon Paint (India), says, ¨Our aim is to make painters in India excel in the field and be knowledgeable and updated with the current tools and techniques being used. This in turn will pave way for their development. As the intention was genuine, it pleased all the stakeholders involved and everything fell in place. The response has been overwhelming and there is an absolute transformation and a welcome change in the painters who have been trained till date. They are slowly adapting to a more professional approach. We are currently planning to expand this initiative to locations beyond Chennai as well.¨

On the successful completion of the training, every painter gets a certification from Nippon Paint in the form of a completion certificate.

Special Effect Paint
Nippon Paint has launched ´Momento´ a new range of special effect paint. The company has partnered with NIFT, Chennai to create design patterns using the special effect paint. Two levels of contest were conducted and NIFT students were provided with the entire Momento range from Nippon to create their own designs. Having received over 75 entries, the company shortlisted nine patterns under the Momento brand. Momento comes in three variants: Elegant, Enhancer and Dzine.

Mahesh Anand, President-Decoratives, Nippon Paint (India), says, ¨Partnering with NIFT Chennai has definitely proved beneficial to us. The students come with interesting, fresh ideas.¨ To this, Dr Anita Mabel Manohar, Director, NIFT, adds, ¨Nippon Paint provided our students with a great platform to be able to demonstrate their design abilities. This hereby symbolises what NIFT stands for: Design and innovation can be displayed in all forms û be it cloths or walls.¨

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